Our work at Cross Catholic has always had a strong focus on children – the most innocent victims of poverty. That’s why we couldn’t help but notice that the Vatican has released a new statement about our Catholic duty to help children in need, and how this Advent and Christmas season should serve as a reminder of that holy calling:
When I came to visit her house, Justina Espinoza greeted me with a warm smile and brought three of her children that happened to be home out to meet me. In the remote mountain community of Sapanani Alto in Bolivia, there aren’t exactly a lot of foreign visitors.
These kids are learning to grow veggies. It’s one of their before/after school activities, along with study time, sports and a snack they get from our ministry partner in Zambia—the Namaacha Program.
A drive through the city of Managua, Nicaragua, felt like traveling in circles as we passed building after building defaced with the spray-painted slogans, “Viva la Revolucion” and “Viva Daniel.” It was hard to say whether the signs were the result of grassroots activism or a public graffiti art initiative, displayed among an abundant supply of billboards, posters, and statues promoting President Daniel Ortega and his political party.
Have you ever tried to carry a bundle of firewood on your head? Or balance a bucket of water?
You’d be surprised what a child – robbed of his parents by the AIDS pandemic and forced to fend for himself in a rural African village – can endure… I get a headache just from wearing a snug baseball cap, let alone using my skull as a transportation device! But you’d be surprised what a person can do when there are no other options.
It’s not often that I hear someone ask whether they should have flown west instead of east to visit our office. But when you live on the opposite side of the world, it’s a valid question. Cross Catholic partner Ruth Callanta stopped in this week to promote her Christ-centered approach to promoting economic development among the poor in the Philippines, and to thank us for our support.